POEA deputy appointed as OWWA administrator
MANILA, Philippines - A long-time official of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) appointed as the new chief of the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Thursday.
Carmelita Dimzon, who was deputy administrator of POEA for years, was sworn into office on Thursday afternoon by Labor Secretary Marianito Roque. She will officially assume her post on Friday.
Roque vacated the top OWWA post last July when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him as head of the Department of Labor and Employment.
At the sidelines of her oath-taking at the DOLE’s main in Intramuros, Manila, Dimzon vowed to be "judicious and transparent" in performing her duties, particularly in managing the welfare fund of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
She said that she will only invest the OWWA money in welfare programs for the OFWs "because that's their money."
The OWWA Fund was put up for the welfare and protection of the country’s growing overseas labor force.
Dimzon also assured Secretary Roque of continuing all the projects and programs that he started when he was still the OWWA administrator.
The OWWA's asset including cash is said to stand now at P8 billion. The P8 billion fund came from the $25 membership fee being paid by Filipinos working abroad. Previous reports have placed it at P10 billion.
Dimzon, a 59-year-old native of Guagua, Pampanga, earned her Bachelor in Arts major in English and minor in Philosophy degree at University of Santo Tomas in 1968, graduating magna cum laude.
She took her graduate studies in public administration in the University of the Philippines in 1980 before pursuing her post-graduate degree in the same university in 2003.
Since 1979, Dimzon has worked in the Department of Labor and Employment, first as a senior management officer of the Institute of Labor and Manpower Science. In 1982 she moved to the POEA and has stayed there for 26 years.
The search for a new OWWA chief became a hot issue when different migrant groups opposed the nomination of defeated senatorial candidate Prospero Pichay for the post.
Aside from Pichay, one of the aspirants was Muhamad Ali Carlito Astillero, a Riyadh-based medical doctor who was nominated by the OFW Congress, an umbrella group in the Saudi capital.
Mike Bolos, a former OFW and now an entrepreneur and a townmate of Dimzon in Guagua, was nominated by migrants rights advocates but he withdrew his name when Astillero entered the fray. Bolos cited the need for the overseas Filipino community to act as one as his reason for pulling out.
Another choice was lawyer Angelo “Jijil" Jimenez, a labor official who has reportedly impressed many overseas Filipinos and labor recruiters alike, and was once leading the race for signatures in the online petition site wwwPetitionOnline.com.
Carmelita Dimzon, who was deputy administrator of POEA for years, was sworn into office on Thursday afternoon by Labor Secretary Marianito Roque. She will officially assume her post on Friday.
Roque vacated the top OWWA post last July when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him as head of the Department of Labor and Employment.
At the sidelines of her oath-taking at the DOLE’s main in Intramuros, Manila, Dimzon vowed to be "judicious and transparent" in performing her duties, particularly in managing the welfare fund of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
She said that she will only invest the OWWA money in welfare programs for the OFWs "because that's their money."
The OWWA Fund was put up for the welfare and protection of the country’s growing overseas labor force.
Dimzon also assured Secretary Roque of continuing all the projects and programs that he started when he was still the OWWA administrator.
The OWWA's asset including cash is said to stand now at P8 billion. The P8 billion fund came from the $25 membership fee being paid by Filipinos working abroad. Previous reports have placed it at P10 billion.
Dimzon, a 59-year-old native of Guagua, Pampanga, earned her Bachelor in Arts major in English and minor in Philosophy degree at University of Santo Tomas in 1968, graduating magna cum laude.
She took her graduate studies in public administration in the University of the Philippines in 1980 before pursuing her post-graduate degree in the same university in 2003.
Since 1979, Dimzon has worked in the Department of Labor and Employment, first as a senior management officer of the Institute of Labor and Manpower Science. In 1982 she moved to the POEA and has stayed there for 26 years.
The search for a new OWWA chief became a hot issue when different migrant groups opposed the nomination of defeated senatorial candidate Prospero Pichay for the post.
Aside from Pichay, one of the aspirants was Muhamad Ali Carlito Astillero, a Riyadh-based medical doctor who was nominated by the OFW Congress, an umbrella group in the Saudi capital.
Mike Bolos, a former OFW and now an entrepreneur and a townmate of Dimzon in Guagua, was nominated by migrants rights advocates but he withdrew his name when Astillero entered the fray. Bolos cited the need for the overseas Filipino community to act as one as his reason for pulling out.
Another choice was lawyer Angelo “Jijil" Jimenez, a labor official who has reportedly impressed many overseas Filipinos and labor recruiters alike, and was once leading the race for signatures in the online petition site wwwPetitionOnline.com.
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